Dee 
WOODCHUCK ; GROUND-HOG. 
Marmota monax (Linnzeus). 
Mus monax Linn., Syst. Nat., I., 1758, p. 60. 
Arctomys monax of Kennicott and many authors. 
The woodchuck is found from Georgia, Alabama, and Kansas 
north to Hudson Bay and westward to the Rocky Mountains in the 
northern part of its range, but is not usually at all common in a 
prairie country. It is rare in this county except in the exmeme 
northern part, where it is said to be not uncommon. 
The woodchuck is a thick-set, clumsy animal, with legs so short 
that the gait resembles that of afat pig. It is about 22 in. (560 mm.) 
long, the tail, which is sparingly bushy, being approximately 4 in. 
(100 mm.) in length. The ears are short. The usual color of the 
back is grizzly brown, with head, tail, and feet darker; the belly is 
rusty reddish. Individuals vary greatly, however, some being 
nearly black, while the light-tipped hair of others gives the animal a 
light grayish yellow color. 
The woodchuck loves a rolling country with a light soil and 
an abundance of clover, grass, and grain. Given these, woodchucks 
will more than hold their own with civilization. Through many 
parts of New England and the Middle States they are probably 
more abundant now than when the country was first settled. Ken- 
nicott, writing of northern Illinois in 1856, says that the woodchuck 
was exceedingly rare ten years ago but is now becoming quite com- 
mon. Itisaninhabitant of the woods. I am not aware that it ever 
lives in the prairie’. JI found it abundant in McHenry county, and 
it is said to be equally so in the adjoining counties. It 1s not now, 
however, so much an “‘inhabitant of the woods”’ as of the cultivated 
fields where woods stood when Kennicott wrote this. Woodchucks 
seem never to have been abundant in Champaign county, and at 
present there are only a few here, these occurring along the bor- 
ders of the wooded bluffs. . 
These animals are believed to be strictly vegetarian in their diet. 
Their burrows are extensive, and always conspicuous on account 
of the large quantities of earth thrown out. They do not hesitate 
to swim across bodies of water, and they do it easily. They have 
been known to climb low or slanting trees, but this is not usual. 
Their young are born in one litter of four to six, in spring. 
Their winter sleep is profound, and lasts in New England from about 
